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Paper short abstract:

This paper reports upon collaborative NWO-AHRC research conducted by UK and Dutch cultural geographers and artists into tidal ecologies of place in the UK and Holland and beyond.

Paper long abstract:

This paper reports upon collaborative NWO-AHRC research conducted by UK and Dutch cultural geographers and artists into tidal ecologies of place in the UK and Holland and beyond. Tidal zones are extraordinarily dynamic spaces which generate complex ecologies which interconnect land and sea, air and water as elements, salt water and fresh water as variations of the latter, and a range of eco-social assemblages. All these interconnecting processes are set in series of rhythms driven by tidal cycles. Tides literally mix space, time and materiality. Tidal processes in different locations vary markedly in term of range, the habitats and ecologies generated, and in the way local culture and economy engage with them (ecologies of place). For a range of reasons which include possible climate change induced sea level rise, and various forms of development and exploitation, tidal areas around the world, and the important interconnected natural and cultural heritage they support, are under a great deal of pressure. Accounts of tidal ecologies of place, particularly as generated by artists, in the Severn Estuary UK and the Wadden Sea Netherlands will be discussed.